Sunday, June 24, 2007

Vancouver, Canada, ey!

Earlier this month, I spent a week in the lovely city of Vancouver, Canada.

Reasons for the trip were,

1. I was bored of the desert scene, aka. Arizona,

2. I am a big fan of the X-files and Stargate SG1, which both were filmed in British Columbia.

I have posted most of my Vancouver photos in Flickr.com, however the following are some more interesting ones.

For those of you have flew to U.S. or away from U.S., I am sure you have dealt with TSA. Regardless how some of their rules and regulations are a bit ridiculous, they are the first line of defense against those democracy-hating terrorists.

That is why I was confused about how they confiscate all liquids & gels or anything that could be used as weapon, yet these sewing kits along with scissors are readily available at airport shops, especially after TSA checkpoint:

So Much For TSA Security

My flight with United Airlines from Los Angeles to Vancouver was delayed for over an hour due to a malfunctioning toilet water pump.

United Flight from LAX to YVR

While the ground crew tried to fix it, we sat in the plane waiting. Eventually the crew decided to hand out bottled water to passengers and use them to flush after each toilet visit. At least this solution is better than Continental's, where brown liquid flowed down the aisle.

At English Bay, I saw this couple:

Old Fisherman with his Catch

The man on the mobile phone is wearing some netting type of clothing. I titled this photo as "Old Fisherman with his Catch".

Perhaps he is on the phone with Disney:

"Yo Disney? My friend and I have got a great script for you. Instead of some hot redhead mermaid, how about a mid-aged dude likes to wear old fishnet? Did I mention he is got a sidekick too? A fisherman!"

Are you interested in join a secret society? Perhaps the Freemasons? How about Chinese Freemasons? If you are in the Vancouver's Chinatown area, they are recruiting.

Chinese Freemason Postings

You should also bring some reptile jerky to share with fellow members.

Reptile Jerky

Here is the difference between typical North American breakfast food:

Typical North American Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, fried potato cubes, toast, & sausages. (CA$9.00)

And Chinese breakfast food:

Dim Sum @ Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Curry chicken triangles dusted with sesame seeds & caramel glaze, spare ribs stewed in black beans sauce, steamed buns stuffed with barbecue pork, & steamed shark fin dumplings. (CA$9.00)

At Lynn Canyon, besides the wonderful view, I also loved their blunt & graphic warning message boards along with the anecdote stories:

Undertow Warning

Cataracts Warning

Who says condoms are not bio-degradable? Obviously this one I found in Mt. Seymour did:

Who says condom is not bio-degradeable?

Don't worry, that was not mine. Plus, I am a "pack it in & pack it out" type of person.

While I was preparing to leave Vancouver, I had a difficult time to figure out when and where my flight was thanks to this monitor busy displaying "The page cannot be displayed" error message:

Flight Info Screen Error

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Rattlesnake in a Can

I was in San Pedro River Nature Preserve of Southern Arizona yesterday with friends from the Nature Conservancy & Arizona Game & Fish department.

Around 8pm or so, we started to hear a rattling sound periodically. Then, we discovered this little guy:

Rattlesnake (photo2of4)

Rattlesnake (photo4of4)

I have also made a short film documenting the capture & release of this young rattlesnake.

rattlesnakeinacan.wmv